


Babe, NO!

by couldnt_think_of_a_funny_name



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: A Cursing Toddler, Brief Mention of 2005's Cinematic Masterpiece 'Ice Princess', Brownies, Dorks in Love, Excessive Head Injuries, Extreme Lack of Chill, Fire, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Ice Skating, Local Man Can't Seem To Do Anything Right, Nostalgia, Riarkle, Ridiculous Family, SAVE GMW, Sentimental Garbage, Seriously Get Him a Helmet or Something, Sneaking Around, Stargazing, Teenage Parents, Through the Years, guess who finally remembered her password!!, valentines day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 10:21:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10435566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/couldnt_think_of_a_funny_name/pseuds/couldnt_think_of_a_funny_name
Summary: Riley and Farkle just can't seem to get the hang of Valentines Day. Spans from 10th grade to their freshman year of college.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So more than a month ago, @isadorarileys' had a Secret Valentines Exchange on tumblr, and I wrote this for @rchiekins. Just remembered my password so that's why I'm putting it up now lol. Some of this was inspired by my headcanons on tumblr, so check those out if you like it! (also please let me know if you like it). You don't have to read my other story to follow this one but like...please do? I love validation? Also they exist in the same timeline/headcanon verse so there's that lol. Because my computer apparently loves to mess up formatting, as with my other story, the lines in bold are to indicate when the subject changes. All the characters (except Penny) are owned by Michael Jacobs and Co. Enjoy!

**Riley Matthews had made it _abundantly clear_ to her idiot boyfriend that she didn’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day.**

Like, _sure_ , of course she loved everything about the holiday and its traditions, and of course she loves her boyfriend. But she and Farkle hadn’t made anything public yet, the only other person who knows they’ve been dating for the past two months is Feeny, and both of them were still enjoying the sneaking-around high. Going out on a big romantic date like Farkle wanted would probably get them caught, if he gave her flowers she’d have to explain where they came from, her mother had momentarily banned sugar so she didn’t want to risk hiding candy, and sitting around watching rom-coms alone in her apartment would’ve made at least Maya or her father suspicious. Riley just didn’t see the point in celebrating this year, and she was certain she’d be spending many more Valentines with Farkle, so this didn’t really feel like a big deal. Besides, she had a physics exam to study for. 

She explained this all to Farkle and he agreed to not bother this year, and she thought that would be the end of it. Hindsight, however, is twenty/twenty, and if Riley was being honest she did kinda expect him to pull something…She just didn’t think he would be so _stupid_ about it. 

It was about 8:30 at night, the thunderstorm had finally died down, and Riley shut her textbook, prepared to call it an early night. Everyone else was out doing something- Maya and Lucas went to mess with the 7th graders that hang out in the bowling alley, Zay scored a date with one of Riley’s friends from the cheer team, Smackle had a debate, Auggie was over at Ava’s apartment, Eric and Josh had taken Morgan out for a surprise dinner while her parents had reservations at a new five star French place. Riley was admittedly starting to feel _slightly_ regretful about canceling the holiday for her and Farkle, so she figured she’d text him to see how his night was going before heading to bed. 

_The only response she received was a picture of a decapitated stuffed bunny laying in mud surrounded by torn orange rose petals._

What in the world was she supposed to take from that? She called Farkle immediately and his voice sounded oddly strange when he answered. “Do you like surprises?”

“Farkle, what the hell?” 

“If you like surprises, come outside, darling.” His voice sounded forcefully light, as if he was trying to hide something. 

“Farkle, I’m in my shorts and a sports bra, it’s like two degrees out there, is this honestly gonna be worth it?” 

“ _Seriously_ , just…come outside to the alley. Please. You’ll be surprised.” 

So, groaning and pulling on a hoodie and slippers, Riley trudged downstairs her building hoping to make whatever this was fast. Knowing Farkle, he probably just wanted to give her a box of truffles and a kiss or something. But why wouldn’t he just come in her bedroom like usual then? Why the alley? 

She found out why when she rounded the corner and discovered Farkle, soaking wet, laying in a puddle of mud staring at the sky in defeat, orange rose petals all around him and the stuffed bunny like funeral offerings. 

“WHAT THE HELL?” 

“I wanted to sneak in to the apartment to surprise you for Valentine’s Day. I was not anticipating rain. I slipped off the fire escape and I’ve kinda just been here since.” 

_“Farkle Jonathan Minkus-“_

“Riley, I’ve been out here for like thirty minutes, can you yell at me later?” 

She was helping him get to his feet before he even fished talking. He seemed pretty dazed out and his words slurred slightly, so she was positive he had a concussion. He was also shivering with his lips tinged blue, and she didn’t love the angle some of his fingers were facing. 

After a near deadly stumble up the stairs (of all the nights for the elevator to break?), Riley shoved her bleary boyfriend into the bathroom, ordering him to take a hot shower while she threw his clothes in the washer and found the first aid kit. He was back out in less than ten minutes, and she handed him a pair of her sweatpants to change into. They were hot pink with purple flowers embroidered around the ankles. 

Farkle, his head and arm poking out of the bathroom door, stared down at the pants for a long moment, before blinking slowly, looking up at Riley, blinking again, then saying “…This is a weird tactic to try to see me naked.” 

Riley smiled lightly, “My dad will notice if I give you any of his clothes. Meet me in the dining room please.” 

Now, _maybe_ it was wrong of Riley to take advantage of the boy’s concussion- because if Farkle was fine, he probably would’ve remembered that roughly eighty percent of his wardrobe had been stolen by his girlfriend- but Riley was pretty annoyed with him for not only ignoring her wishes, but putting himself in danger in the process. Snapping some pictures of him in some extremely ill-fitting girly sweatpants for future blackmail was like, the _least_ she could do to punish him for it. 

Seriously, they didn’t fit him _at all_. She was seeing _way_ more than she thought she would at only two months into their relationship. 

After guiding him to the bench of the dinner table, Riley kneeled on the seat next to him, looking him over for any obvious open wounds. She just finished wrapping an ace bandage around his hand when he groaned, mumbled “The room is spinning”, wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed his face into her stomach. That gave Riley a new angle of his head, and she _clearly_ saw blood staining his hair. Riley’s heart almost stopped. It was bad enough that she was squeamish around blood, but she didn’t know how to handle bleeding head wounds, you’re supposed to put pressure on them, right? That makes sense! So without really thinking anything concrete through her panic, she slipped off her unzipped hoodie and pressed it to the back of Farkle’s head. He groaned again at the pressing and leaned harder into her midriff.

What a perfect moment for the door to open! 

Her parents, uncles, and aunt had all been laughing together as they were walking in, but now stood in the door way gaping and the two doe eyed teenagers caught in a position that even they would admit was probably provocative to an unknowing eye. 

The silence was broken by Eric letting out a drawn-out, ear-shattering _shriek_. 

Followed quickly by Joshua whispering out a horrified “Oh _no_ ,” before covering his eyes. 

Cory opened his mouth to say something, but before he got the chance, Farkle, in a complete state of panic, yelled “I’VE BEEN DATING RILEY FOR TWO MONTHS!” 

Morgan started clapping in entertainment. They were _so_ about to die. 

Flash forward barely half an hour later, the Minkus’ have arrived on scene and are pacing the floor with the Matthews. Josh is laying on the window seat, crying softly, seemingly traumatized. Eric, who finally stopped shrieking after he collapsed on the floor, called Feeny and was now yelling incoherently into the phone. Morgan had her phone out, apparently waiting to film whatever was about to go down. Riley and Farkle, regrettably still massively underdressed, were sitting on the couch, Farkle holding the sweatshirt to his head still and Riley frantically texting Maya to come save her. 

Finally, Stuart opened his mouth, about to start the Yelling, when suddenly the door slammed open and in ran the Hunters, Katy beaming and Shawn happily proclaiming “WE’RE HAVING A BA-“but before he could finish his sentence or any of his friends could react to the happy news, he caught sight of the two teens, both half naked and disheveled and embarrassed, and said “ _Holy shit_!” 

Riley tried to take the momentary distraction to save themselves, saying “This isn’t what it looks like!” but that just infuriated Topanga, who started to yell “ _Not what it looks like?!”_ but then the door banged open _again_ , this time Maya entering, dragging a confused Lucas behind her, saying in an overly-rehearsed sounding voice, “Riley is perfectly innocent and I’m prepared to vouch for h-“ before _she_ caught sight of her two best friends, and fell silent with wide eyes. 

The room was silent once again for a few moments. Lucas seemed extremely confused, but Maya’s eyes gave her away, clearly she had put together that Riley and Farkle were seeing each other in secret and she was pissed. 

“ _HOW COULD YOU TWO NOT TELL ME ABOUT THIS?_ Does best friendship mean absolutely nothing-“she ranted on for a few more moments, Riley and Farkle rolling their eyes at her and the adults still trying to pull their thoughts together. It wasn’t until Maya yelled, “And what the hell, Riley, you’re not supposed to lose your virginity before me!” before everyone seemed to find their voices. 

All hell broke loose, predictably. 

All four parents and Maya were yelling at the couple, Riley was yelling in her own defense as Farkle yelled about the fact he still needs medical attention. Katy yelled at Maya. Morgan yelled for everyone to hear Riley out. Feeny could be heard yelling over speaker phone for everyone to calm down and shut up. Josh was still crying, as was Eric who was also hastily typing into his phone. Shawn was just yelling in general, this whole situation now giving him doubt over having a baby. Lucas couldn’t make any distinct words out over the commotion and was still relatively confused. 

After…Ten? Twenty? Thirty? _Too long_ of this mess, Riley finally somehow managed to scream loud enough to get everyone’s attention (and her voice shattered a vase in the process, she was actually pretty proud of that). After angrily explaining her and Farkle’s new relationship and that nothing inappropriate had happened at all that night other than Farkle explicitly ignoring her request to not celebrate the holiday, Riley threw herself back down on the couch in a huff of aggravation. Dammit, all she had wanted to do tonight was study for her stupid physics exam! 

Everyone started to calm down some, took some deep breaths, relaxed, and were prepared to have a bit more open discussion…Until Cory asked, “Okay, but if you didn’t want to celebrate Valentine’s Day, why was Farkle on the fire escape to begin with?”

And Farkle, poor, sweet, _concussed_ and unfiltered and not thinking straight Farkle, said something to the effect of “I wanted to sneak in and surprise Riley so we could be romantic.” 

Stuart groaned. 

Riley winced and mumbled “Babe… _Babe, no_ -“ 

Cory, deathly calm, looked Farkle in the eye and announced “ _This_ is your head start.” 

The boy blinked quickly, seeming less dazed than he was moments ago, before muttering “Yes, sir” as he dropped the hoodie from the back of his head, jumped up from the couch and ran out the door, still wearing absolutely nothing other than inappropriately tight hot pink and purple sweatpants. 

Cory let out a war cry and chased after him. After a moment of silence in the room, Topanga quietly announced “I’m just gonna go follow after them in the car”. Eric and Shawn ran after her, Shawn claiming he was going for ‘educational purposes’ and Eric declaring he can’t miss out of this chase for his live tweet. 

A suffocating, painfully awkward silence fell over the people left in the apartment. Maya was still angrily muttering under her breath, Lucas was still trying to piece together what happened, Josh was still sniffling, and Riley was intensely aware of the fact she was only in a sports bra as her boyfriend’s parents stared her down in disapproval. 

Trying to break the tension, Morgan suggested they put on the evening news. 

Could you guess what the top story was? 

Because apparently when the Senator starts live tweeting about his angry brother chasing the half-naked teenage son of one of the richest men in America, it gets a lot of attention. 

**Farkle Minkus was frustrated.**

He could do math that barely anyone else in the world understood. He could whip up a gourmet five course meal like it was nothing. He could tap dance circles around some of Broadway’s best performers. If he tried hard enough, he was pretty sure he could probably invent an entire new branch of science. Farkle Minkus was a very gifted boy, and he _knew_ that, and he knew that there wasn’t much he couldn’t actually do. 

So imagine his annoyance when he discovered _he could not fucking ice skate_. 

He understood the science behind the act perfectly, it made literally no sense that he couldn’t apply it. He just kept slipping and sliding and splitting painfully. If this wasn’t a Valentine’s Day date with his girlfriend of over a year, he probably would have cut his losses and quit by now. 

At first, he had absolutely no idea why Riley had insisted on this for their date- his girlfriend was one of the clumsiest people in the world. She trips over thin air and can barely walk in a straight line! Now, Farkle had always found this little quirk of Riley’s to be incredibly endearing, but he wasn’t sure combining it with ice would be the best idea. He didn’t exactly want to spend the entire date trying to keep Riley upright, you know? 

Except, the _opposite_ seemed to be happening and he was _frustrated_. 

The second Riley had stepped on the ice, it was like all he klutziness had melted away. Her posture straightened perfectly, and she glided smoothly and calmly, spinning around without a care in the world, she’s even pulled off some impressive jumps since getting in the rink.

What the _fuck?_

Farkle has known Riley Matthews since they were six years old. He’s pretty certain he would have known if she was a part time professional figure skater. That feels like something that should’ve come up in conversation over the past eleven years, right? But here she was, loosely and gracefully gliding around the rink, her eyes closed, her arms positioned perfectly as she does a little spin. The smile on her face is completely content. She kinda looks like she’s imagining herself conducting a song or something, and _okay_ , Farkle forgets to be frustrated for a few minutes and instead gets lost on how _beautiful_ this girl is and _how is she actually dating him?_

But then he fell hard on his ass again and came back to Earth. 

Riley apparently heard his manly shriek of pain, because she skated back up to him, a soft smile on her face, asking “Need some help?” as she pulled him to his feet. She held both of his hands and glided backwards, slowly and carefully pulling his awkward flailing limbs with her, clearly trying hard not to laugh at him.

“So, like, since when are you Kristi Yamaguchi?” 

She laughed lightly, “I saw that movie _‘Ice Princess’_ when I was like four and I was convinced it was my destiny. We couldn’t afford professional lessons or competitions or anything, but Uncle Eric started taking me down to the rink whenever there was a free skate and taught me everything he knew.” 

“I can’t see Eric on skates either, though.” 

“He hypnotized himself into becoming a professional figure skater in high school to impress some girl.” 

“…I _really want_ to believe that.”

“It’s true!” She was giggling again, that charming little bell-like tingle that always made Farkle feel like he was flying. Unfortunately, he got so caught up in it this time that he slipped forward and would have smashed his face into this ice if Riley, who was still holding both his hands, hadn’t caught him and pulled him up out of the fall. Was his girlfriend really strong or was he super light? Today was not good for his ego at all.

“You’re _so bad_ at this!” Riley was grinning in sheer amusement. 

“You dragged me here because you _knew_ I’d be bad at this,” Farkle accused.

“Well, _duh_.” 

“You’re so mean to me!”

“Well, you _are_ my least favorite person in the world, nerd.” 

And okay, he _knows_ she’s just joking around, that’s beyond obvious, but Farkle Minkus is _not used_ to being bad at things. It makes him feel… _inadequate_. It’s not even the fact that Riley’s better at it than him, Riley’s better than him at a lot of things, but it’s just that he can’t do this _at all_. He’s just constantly slipping as she gently pulls him along, and it’s driving him nuts. The logic part of him in the back of his mind is yelling that this is just his hormones and he’s being irrational, but his testosterone and constant need to prove himself is shouting over that.

He let go of one of Riley’s hands, grabbing at the bar on the edge of the rink to hold himself up. “How do you even do those jump-spin things?” 

She smiles brightly, and launches into an explanation about calculating the jump that he tries to memorize word for word. She skates a little further away from him before performing the move perfectly. Some of the other skaters clapped at the display. 

As she started to glide back towards him, he steeled himself, remembering Riley’s explanation and pressed off from the wall completely determined to nail the move. Riley apparently figured out the plan from his facial expression, because the last thing he remembers before he tried the jump was her eyes going wide and her going “ _Babe, NO_.” 

The next thing he remembers is waking up in a tiny white room on a cot, with Riley standing next to him with her arms folded and an unimpressed expression on her face. 

“…Skating rink infirmary?” 

Riley gave an over exaggerated nod, before saying “You hit your head, dumbass.”

“I might have overreacted to being embarrassed.” 

She rolled her eyes. “You are _so_ ridiculous,” but then she gave a tiny smile, saying “This is our second Valentine’s Day that involves a concussion watch.” 

He winced at that. “Yeah, really hope this doesn’t become a tradition for us.” 

Riley giggled lightly, and leaned in for a kiss, and despite his bruised ego and throbbing head, Farkle felt like everything was perfect in life. Riley made him feel like the biggest, greatest, coolest guy around. 

She smirked against his lips. “I hope you realize I’m going to have to call you Ice Princess for the rest of eternity.” 

He groaned. 

**Riley Matthews was rolling her eyes.**

Half fondly, because Farkle was sitting at the kitchen table playing around with their daughter Penny, and frankly that was _beyond adorable_. But also half in annoyance, because he was _supposed_ to be helping her bake fifteen batches of brownies for the Valentine’s bake sale at school tomorrow. It was after midnight, Penny woke up an hour ago and apparently worked out that if she screams loud enough one of her parents will give her their undivided attention instead of putting her back in her crib, and now Riley was left drowning in brownie mixes. Why did Missy have to assign this job to her so last minute? 

Farkle was holding Penny out in front of him so she could see how he was moving his lips. “DA-da. DA-da. DA-da.” 

The baby gurgled wordlessly in response. Riley rolled her eyes again. “Farkly, she’s a _month_ old. You’re not going to get her to say anything.” 

“My dad told me I was talking by two months old!” 

“Your dad lied to you to make you feel special. Let her fall asleep!” 

“I’ve been trying to get her to fall asleep! She doesn’t seem tired!”

Riley took a deep breath to prevent herself from murdering her boyfriend. Seriously, tickling the kid and trying to get her to talk is supposed to put her down? “Switch, please.” 

Farkle obliged, gently laying Penny in Riley’s arms and grabbed a mixing bowl. Riley started rocking the baby gently. 

The calm lasted for exactly ten seconds before Penny started screaming.

Riley couldn’t help it, she started crying too. She was _so_ exhausted and stressed out, she was still recovering from giving birth, and she couldn’t even get her baby down. She was a failure in general, and she was an awful mother, and this was the hard proof. 

Farkle had hastily shoved a half mixed batter pan in the oven before rushing over, grabbing Penny in one arm and rubbing Riley’s back with the other, mumbling “You’re fine, you’re fine”, and Riley honestly couldn’t figure out which girl he was talking to. 

Penny shushed up almost immediately after being taken out of her mother’s arms, staring up and Farkle in quiet wonder in tugging lightly on his shirt. Tears fell from Riley’s eyes even faster at that.

“Why does she like you more than me?” 

Farkle winced at how utterly broken Riley sounded in the moment. “Ri, she doesn’t have a concept of favoritism-“ 

“She _does_ , and it’s _you!_ She screams every time I touch her, and I can barely get her to feed, and neither of us sleep, and-“ 

“And I think you’re too overworked right now, Riley! You shouldn’t have left maternity leave so early. I _promise_ the baby loves you. Go to sleep and I’ll take care of all of this, okay?” 

“You can’t watch the baby and make all of these brownies by yourself!” 

“I’ll figure it out, babe, I promise everything is fine!” Farkle was trying to gently push his still-sobbing girlfriend towards her bedroom. His heart was cracking looking at her, she seemed so dead on her feet and lost to the world. She was really pressing herself to hard, going back to school so soon before she was even really done recovering, trying to figure out the whole new parent thing and barely accepting help, and everyone was worried but no one had been able to convince her to take it easy. He didn’t know what to do to get through to her. 

She was still protesting about going to sleep “Farkle, I can’t leave you to do this all alone, and what if she gets hungry, and-“ 

“I have a culinary degree, there are bottles of milk in the fridge, and you look like you’re going to pass out any second now.”

“I have to help, Farkle, I have to-“ 

“Babe, _no_.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but at this point Farkle had successfully shoved her into the bed, and she literally fell asleep before her head hit the pillow. Farkle felt another piece of his heart crack at the scene. He looked down at his daughter, her big blue eyes calmly staring up at him. 

“You,” he whispered, “really have to start being nicer to your mommy.” 

Riley woke up twelve hours later to the scent of smoke. 

She shot up like a bullet, her heart in her chest, frantically searching the room for her baby and finding no trace of her. Rushing out to the kitchen, Riley found Farkle, asleep on top of the table with Penny curled protectively on his chest, pans of brownies littered around the kitchen. Smoke was pouring out of the oven and filling most of the apartment. 

Grabbing their fire extinguisher, Riley tackled the mess in the oven while yelling at Farkle to _wake the fuck up_. He did at the sound of her yelling, blinking the sleep out of his eyes quickly and rushing to open the windows to get the smoke out of the apartment. Riley finally got the fire out completely and turned on Farkle, looking like she was close to crying again. 

_“I cannot believe you-“_

“I’m more concerned about the fact no smoke alarms went off-“ 

“You could have killed Penelope!” 

“I know, I’ll call the doctor to make sure she’s fine but she’s not even coughing-“

“I told you that you couldn’t do this alone, but could you ever listen to me? I should’ve-“ 

“Okay, I think it’s important to note that I _did_ manage to make fifteen batches of brownies by myself while watching the baby-“ 

Riley angrily shoved on an oven mitt, picked the pan up out of the oven and threw it in the sink so Farkle could see it properly. Underneath the foam from the extinguisher, the brownie batter was so burnt it looked molten red in some spots. The pan itself was charred to bits. She raised her eyebrow at Farkle, daring him to defy her.

“… _Fourteen_ batches of brownies.” 

She couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped her at that. Honestly, she couldn’t. At least Farkle managed to look sheepish about the whole event. 

Pulling Penny into her arms and hugging her tightly, Riley took in Farkle’s disheveled state. He had bags under his eyes, his hair was a rat’s nest that had flour and coco spattered throughout it, half an egg shell was hanging precariously off his ear, his shirt had sticky stains of vegetable oil, and he was covered in random blotches of mixed batter all over. This boy of hers was _such a mess_. 

She couldn’t help smiling as she looked him over, though. He _actually_ stayed up all night tending to the baby and baking an unholy amount of brownies just so she could get some sleep. 

“You know,” she said looking around the kitchen at all the different brownies pans, “It’s one in the afternoon, Farkle. We slept through the bake sale.”

He blinked hard at that, as if just noticing the daylight streaming through the windows, followed her gaze across the room, then calmly said “I’m dead inside.” Riley snorted. Farkle picked up a bowl of left over batter, and held out the spoon to her as a gift. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Baby Mama.” 

She took the spoon, booped him on the nose with it, kissed the batter off, and asked him to please kindly clean out the oven he almost destroyed. 

Half way through cleaning, he managed to accidentally smack his head on the inside of the oven. He needed stitches. Riley won’t let him live it down.

 **Farkle Minkus cursed. Loudly.**

His one year old daughter instantly parroted the word with gusto, much to his horror. 

“Wait, _no_ , honey, don’t-“ 

“FUCK!” She yelled cheerfully. Farkle groaned. 

_Okay, so now there’s two reasons for Riley to kill me later_ , he thought worriedly. How could he have forgotten about Valentine’s Day? 

“FUCK!” the toddler proclaimed cheerfully again. 

What the hell is he going to do? They’ve been missing date nights left and right recently because, you know, _college_ , and he promised Riley he’d make sure Valentine’s Day was extra special to make up for it, and yet here he was, twenty minutes away from Riley getting home from work, not wearing any pants, no plan, as his toddler daughter keeps yelling- 

“FUCK!” Penny screamed passionately. 

“My sentiments exactly…” Her father mumbled. What to do? Reservations were out of the question, because it was so last minute and they were like, broke. Movies wouldn’t work because of the baby, he’d feel bad about asking the neighbor to watch her on such short notice. He didn’t even have any chocolate to give her! There was only really one option he saw here… 

He was going to have to sentimental bullshit his way out of this. 

“FUCKKKK!” Penny sang happily to her dolls. 

(Maybe he should deal with that problem first.) 

Riley Matthews walked into her tiny apartment to find it pitch black, which immediately caught her attention as Farkle and Penny were definitely supposed to be getting home before her. She has a color coded schedule for a _reason_ , for God sakes. 

“Babe?” she called out into the apartment, and heard the faint giggle of her baby girl. “Princess? Where are you and daddy?” Unable to find the light switch, she stumbled in blind, waving her arms about hoping to bump into her boyfriend. 

When she made it to the living room area, she heard a faint ‘click’ and then dim light appeared around her- a _projector_ , displaying the constellations on the ceiling a walls of her apartment! Farkle was sitting in the middle of the floor with a smile grin, his big blue eyes sparkling, and a halfhearted wave of his hands, like _ta-da_. There was a box next to him and Penny was sitting on the couch. He moved slightly to adjust the machine, and some of the projections splayed across his skin. Riley couldn’t help but grin when she noticed that Cassiopeia lined up perfectly with some of the freckles that splashed across his nose. 

“So, uh,” he started once he got the machine steady, “Some of my favorite memories are when you’d come over and we’d lay on my bedroom floor and stare up at the planetarium and eat Japanese food? I know this isn’t the same as my old bedroom ceiling, but the food will be here in like fifteen minutes, and uh, Penny drew you a picture-“their little girl tumbled over and handed Riley a picture filled with nothing but doodles of orange roses and different little plutos. Riley let a soft “ _Aww_ ,” escape her mouth. She pulled Penny into her lap and smiled at Farkle, who kept talking, waving his hands slightly as if he was nervous, “And I dug out Hazel the Hippo to join us this fine evening, and there are chocolate chip muffins in the oven, and I found that old princess tiara you used to wear in middle school, and a couple other vintage Riley and Farkle artifacts, I even found your hoodie with my blood stains on it from four years ago? Although I have no idea why you kept that.” 

Riley laughed out loud at that. “It was a _memento_ from our first Valentine’s Day as a couple!” then what he said actually hit her. “Oh… _wow_ , that was _only_ four years ago?” Riley knew she was only nineteen, and she had all her memories perfectly straight, but it just always feels like she’s _always_ been with Farkle. That they’ve been stumbling through life hand and hand from the start. And they have been, in a way, but to realize how much had happened in _just_ four years was a shock to the system.

Farkle seemed to agree with her line of thought, judging by the small smile on his face. He scooted closer and pulled the princess tiara on her as she giggled lightly. “So, uh, happy Valentine’s Day. Is this good?” he whispered. Their noses were touching. 

Riley smiled. “You totally forgot it was V-Day until an hour ago, huh?” 

He winced. “I’m _so_ sorry! Look, I know I promised you a big romantic night, and I wish I could, but time got away from me and there’s not real money for res-“she shoved her hand over his mouth and said “Farkle, I don’t care. I _love_ this.” 

He didn’t look entirely convinced. “Really? Because, I mean, you definitely deserve a big romantic night on the town, and if I hadn’t forgotten then maybe-“ 

She snapped her fingers under his nose to get his attention. “Minkus! This _is_ romantic. I don’t need some big, overpriced gesture. I just need _you_. We’ve both been so busy with work and school lately, I feel like I haven’t seen you in a million years. I was so worried you were like, slipping away from me, but this is just the _sweetest gesture ever_ , Farkly, even if it wasn’t planned in advance, and I just feel so lucky to be able to spend Valentine’s Day looking in your eyes and eating take out with our baby.” Riley wasn’t entirely sure when she started crying, but there were definitely a few tears leaking out of her eyes. Farkle lightly brushed them away, while saying “That _might_ be the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said, babe” with a grin. Riley laughed. 

“I’m sorry that we’ve been so busy with life recently, but I promise Riley, I’m not slipping away from you. There’s no way I could ever do that. It’s just not possible. You’re _all_ I need. I-“Riley had thrown her arms around his neck and was kissing him before he could even finish his proclamation. 

Naturally the knock of the delivery man on the door almost immediately had to break them up. 

Riley giggled, pulled away and started going through the memory box with Penny while Farkle went to pay the man. Penny scrunched up her nose when she saw the dried blood on the hoodie from a few years ago, but Riley smiled at it, amused by the memory, before laying it down on the floor to see what was under it in the box, smiling at the various turtlenecks and yearbooks and friendship bracelets and flower crowns. 

Farkle, carrying what appeared to be a small mountain of food, was doing his best not to stumble as he made his way back to his girls. “Okay, the projector’s definitely not giving off enough light for-“ 

Riley saw what was about to happen seconds before it did. She started to say, “ _Wait, babe, no-_ “ but it was too late, Farkle’s unsteady food stepped right onto the old sweatshirt, causing his leg to slide out from under him. He fell, fried rice and garlic chicken flying everywhere, and _of course_ , he smacked his head on the projector before completely hitting the ground. The machine then fell off its tiny stand, landing on him, plunging the room into darkness. Riley jumped up to look for lights, Farkle was groaning in defeat and sweet little Penny screamed “ _FUCK!”_ at the top of her lungs the second it went black. 

They ended up having a Valentine’s Day feast of jello in the hospital. Farkle had a concussion _and_ needed stitches. 

But they were still Riley and Farkle, and they were still very, very happy. Farkle figured if an accident every Valentine’s Day was the price he had to pay to keep his life like this, he’d pay it tenfold. 

Riley gave him a helmet the next year.


End file.
